By Delphine Allaire & Linda Bordoni
Cardinal Pietro Parolin is on a five-day visit to Lebanon, meeting Church and civil authorities and visiting humanitarian projects and programmes run by the Order of Malta Lebanon.
His visit comes as analysts say the war between Israel and Hamas could shift to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where fighting with the Iran-backed group Hezbollah has intensified in recent weeks.
The return of violence to the country has derailed hope that the worst of the political and economic crises that have plagued Lebanon over the past four years have been left behind.
Celebrating Mass in Beirut on the Solemnity of St John the Baptist on Monday, the Vatican Secretary of State renewed Pope Francis‘ appeal “to all those with responsibility, so that the election of the President may occur quickly and that the country may once again find the institutional stability so necessary to address the current challenges seriously.”
On Tuesday, the Cardinal, accompanied by the Order of Malta’s Ambassador to Lebanon and State officials, is touring the organization’s healthcare and social support services.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, Oumayma Farah, Order of Malta Lebanon’s Head of Communications and Fundraising, explained that the visit has been in the cards for the past two years and that Providence is such that it is taking place in this particularly critical time:
“The visit of Cardinal Parolin was actually planned two years ago,” Farah said, as he had been invited by the President of the Order of Malta’s Lebanese branch to visit the country. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it before, but Providence made it!” she added.
Thus, she explained, when he accepted the invitation he chose to do so at a time that not only coincided with celebrations for the National Feast of Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Order of Malta, but also “at a moment that was very much needed for the country.”
But actually, Farah continued, Cardinal Parolin’s visit “turned out to have a much, much bigger symbol, as it brought with it a message of hope to the Lebanese people.”
The Order of Malta Lebanon
Farah explained that the Order of Malta Lebanon has been serving people in need all over the country and in the most remote areas, for the past 70 years.
It currently implements 60 projects and programs in the healthcare, social welfare and agro-humanitarian sectors across the nation.
She said that to be able to better respond to the economic crisis, which affects 80% of the population “depriving people of their most basic rights,” the Order developed new programmes such as the agro-humanitarian one that strives for both short and long-term impact. In the short run, it aims to improve the availability and access of food by helping farmers maintain their production. In the long run, it is geared to improve the resilience of food systems by promoting sustainable production, in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.
Filling the gap
Oumayma Farah was clear that the organization is not “stepping in to compensate where the state is failing,” our aim, she stated “is not at all to replace the state.”
“Our aim is to be able to empower the people, to give them back their dignity and to fill the gap,” she said.
So, she added, “When the state regains its sovereignty and its entity and its mission, then we will be able to accompany it.”
For the past three years, Farah continued, the gap the organization has been filling is in the health sector, “namely by retaining doctors, by providing quality consultations and especially medications, which were completely out of stock in the whole country.”
There are so many people, she explained, that have lost everything due to the devaluation of the Lebanese lira, and due to the string of crises that befell the country what with the 2020 Beirut explosion, and then COVID and the ensuing social, economic and financial downfall.
“And now, with the crisis in South Lebanon, so many crises, we are trying to fill the gap and to stand by the people in the remote areas, as well as all over Lebanon,” she said.
Today, Farah concluded, The Order of Malta Lebanon’s network of 60 projects and programmes, all across the Lebanese territory, is at the service of every person in need, regardless of race, colour or religion. – Vatican News
